The programme on Francis Bacon last night on BBC1 was a considerable achievement. In spite of the fame of his paintings, Bacon remains a mysterious figure. He does not appear to seek publicity, and this is a very rare attitude nowadays.

This long interview with David Sylvester, the first time Bacon had ever appeared on BBC television, was extraordinarily full and interesting. It was certainly better with just the one person questioning and commenting than if there had been the more usual formula, with several critics and opinions. Bacon, with his intensely bright and steady eyes, talked freely and exquisitely to Sylvester, always making his methods and his aims in his work perfectly clear and precise. An interesting face - I should like to see somebody do a Bacon of Bacon. Early experiences giving rise to his repeated painting of the screaming or agonised mouth were described; the nurse screaming in the Eisenstein film, and the old book he found in Paris illustrating the diseases of the mouth.

Later we saw the floor covered with all the tattered piles of photographs, old pictures, pages torn from books, from which he often works, preferring the photograph to the live model. The sitter inhibits Bacon, especially if he likes the subject, because he does not want to practise in his model's presence the injury he is going to do. It is an injury because most people feel distortion to be an injury to themselves. The number of paintings shown, the range of the discussion, the music by Edwin Astley and the writing and direction by Michael Gill altogether made a programme of rare quality.

· This review of the televised interview between David Sylvester and Francis Bacon appeared in the Guardian, September 19 1966.

· This article was amended on Tuesday September 18 2007. Michael Gill, rather than Eric Gill, directed a 1966 television interview with Francis Bacon. We made the mistake when transcribing a review of the programme, which appeared in the Guardian at the time and was reprinted in the Francis Bacon booklet distributed as part of the Great interviews of the 20th century series. This has been corrected.